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Attacks on shipping in the Red Sea from Yemen have forced Jordan into costly adaptations to its trade, the chairman of the Jordan Shipping Association has said.
Nearly a year after the Gaza war-related attacks by Yemen’s Houthi rebels started, Dr Dureid Mahasneh told The National in an exclusive interview that Mediterranean ports in Turkey, Greece and Egypt have been increasingly feeding Jordan’s only port at Aqaba with Far East cargo.
Without the Houthi threat, the cargo would have arrived at Aqaba along mainstream routes through the Bab Al Mandeb.
“There have been no shortages in Jordan. But lots of goods have become more expensive,” said Dr Mahasneh, chief executive of Gargour, one of the oldest shipping companies in the Levant.
In the first eight months of the year, the number of cargo ships passing through the Bab Al Mandeb fell by 61 per cent to 4,557 ships. Oil tanker traffic was down by 64 per cent to 2,267. The strait is a trade artery between the Far East and Europe, as well for Gulf oil exports to continental Europe.
We have been seeing a high rise in costs, delays, and less business
Dr Dureid Mahasneh,
chief executive, Gargour shipping
But imports and exports handled by Aqaba port have remained steady at 14.1 million tonnes in the first eight months of this year compared with the same period 2023, according to the latest shipping association data.
Jordan imports virtually all of what it consumes, with Aqaba, situated on the Red Sea, between the Israeli port of Eilat and the coast of Saudi Arabia, accounting for the vast majority of the kingdom’s trade flows. The Far East is a primary source of Jordanian imports, except for oil and commodities.
“We have been seeing a high rise in costs, delays, and less business. A big shipping line that we represent is no longer coming to Aqaba directly,” said Dr Mahasneh, who has a doctorate in marine sciences, and is also vice president of the Federation of National Associations of Ship Brokers & Agents.
He said that Aqaba is a destination port and not a significant point of transit. “You only bring cargo to Aqaba mostly for Jordan, and a little for a country like Iraq, for example.”
The major shipping lines, he said, had decided to divert south and go around the Cape of Good Hope, especially after the Houthi attacks escalated at the beginning of this year, despite increased presence of western naval forces in the area.
“Combining with other liners they are putting containers coming to Aqaba through the Mediterranean,” Dr Mahasneh said from his office in Amman. A painting of the port of Jaffa, where the Gargour trading business started in the late 1920s, mainly as an orange exporter, hangs behind his desk.
“The main line between Europe and the Far East runs through the Red Sea and Suez Canal and vice versa. But a lot of shipping lines have been hesitant to go through Bab Al Mandeb because of the volatile situation there.”
In an indication of the increased feeding activity into Aqaba, the port handed 296 CTR (container fitted) vessels by the end of August, a 23 per cent rise over the first eight months of 2023.
Cargo is also being rerouted by land through Dubai’s Jebel Ali Free Zone. A car imported into Jordan through Jebel Ali can cost up to $4,000 extra in shipping than when it would arrive directly in Aqaba by ship, Dr Mahasneh said.
Inflation in Jordan is forecast at 2.7 per cent this year, compared with 2.2 per cent last year, according to International Monetary Fund. The authorities in the kingdom subsidise flour and some other staples, shielding consumers from price fluctuations. Oil is imported Saudi Arabia and from Iraq, which has made Jordan unaffected by delays by tanker deliveries through the Bab Al Mandeb.
Fewer vessels emptying cargo in Aqaba have also created difficulties for Jordan's phosphate and potash producers, he said, because the ships, once they offloaded their cargo, used to carry exports of the two products.
Phosphate and potash, separately produced by two state monopolies, account for most of Jordan's exports by value, followed by textiles and other goods manufactured at a joint industrial zone with Israel.
The Iran-backed Houthis started attacking ships in the Red Sea less than two weeks after the Gaza war broke out with an attack by the Hamas, another militant group supported by Iran, on Israel on October 7. The Houthis described the move as aimed at pressuring Israel into halting its operations in the strip.
General cargo vessels handled by Aqaba fell 46 per cent to 27 per cent, and ships carrying cars and other vehicles (called ro-ro) dropped 61 per cent to 49 in the first eight months of this year. Container traffic fell 10 per cent to 272,988 TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent unit).
“There is no remedy other than building up feeder vessels to bring in the cargo and relying on Jebel Ali,” Dr Mahasneh said.
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Milestones on the road to union
1970
October 26: Bahrain withdraws from a proposal to create a federation of nine with the seven Trucial States and Qatar.
December: Ahmed Al Suwaidi visits New York to discuss potential UN membership.
1971
March 1: Alex Douglas Hume, Conservative foreign secretary confirms that Britain will leave the Gulf and “strongly supports” the creation of a Union of Arab Emirates.
July 12: Historic meeting at which Sheikh Zayed and Sheikh Rashid make a binding agreement to create what will become the UAE.
July 18: It is announced that the UAE will be formed from six emirates, with a proposed constitution signed. RAK is not yet part of the agreement.
August 6: The fifth anniversary of Sheikh Zayed becoming Ruler of Abu Dhabi, with official celebrations deferred until later in the year.
August 15: Bahrain becomes independent.
September 3: Qatar becomes independent.
November 23-25: Meeting with Sheikh Zayed and Sheikh Rashid and senior British officials to fix December 2 as date of creation of the UAE.
November 29: At 5.30pm Iranian forces seize the Greater and Lesser Tunbs by force.
November 30: Despite a power sharing agreement, Tehran takes full control of Abu Musa.
November 31: UK officials visit all six participating Emirates to formally end the Trucial States treaties
December 2: 11am, Dubai. New Supreme Council formally elects Sheikh Zayed as President. Treaty of Friendship signed with the UK. 11.30am. Flag raising ceremony at Union House and Al Manhal Palace in Abu Dhabi witnessed by Sheikh Khalifa, then Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi.
December 6: Arab League formally admits the UAE. The first British Ambassador presents his credentials to Sheikh Zayed.
December 9: UAE joins the United Nations.
The biog
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Started: November 2017
Founders: Mounir Nakhla, Ahmed Mohsen and Mohamed Aboulnaga
Based: Cairo, Egypt
Sector: transport and logistics
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Investment: approximately $8 million
Investors include: Singapore’s Battery Road Digital Holdings, Egypt’s Algebra Ventures, Uber co-founder and former CTO Oscar Salazar
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The 24-year-old married Pakistan cricket executive Asser Malik last year in a small ceremony in the UK.
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Tamkeen's offering
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Omar Yabroudi's factfile
Born: October 20, 1989, Sharjah
Education: Bachelor of Science and Football, Liverpool John Moores University
2010: Accrington Stanley FC, internship
2010-2012: Crystal Palace, performance analyst with U-18 academy
2012-2015: Barnet FC, first-team performance analyst/head of recruitment
2015-2017: Nottingham Forest, head of recruitment
2018-present: Crystal Palace, player recruitment manager
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Price, base: Dh105,900 (Premium); Dh115,900 (Sport)
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Transmission: Continuously variable transmission
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Fuel economy, combined: 8.1L / 100km (estimated)
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704 - wins to date as Arsenal manager.
3 - Premier League title wins, the last during an unbeaten Invincibles campaign of 2003/04.
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10 - major trophies won.
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TV: World Cup Qualifier 2018 matches will be aired on on OSN Sports HD Cricket channel
Nepotism is the name of the game
Salman Khan’s father, Salim Khan, is one of Bollywood’s most legendary screenwriters. Through his partnership with co-writer Javed Akhtar, Salim is credited with having paved the path for the Indian film industry’s blockbuster format in the 1970s. Something his son now rules the roost of. More importantly, the Salim-Javed duo also created the persona of the “angry young man” for Bollywood megastar Amitabh Bachchan in the 1970s, reflecting the angst of the average Indian. In choosing to be the ordinary man’s “hero” as opposed to a thespian in new Bollywood, Salman Khan remains tightly linked to his father’s oeuvre. Thanks dad.
